Thursday, May 07, 2020

A Trumpian Arrangement

According to a Yale epidemiologist (who is especially enraged about the impact on minority communities)

It's probably not negligence, omission, and it's certainly not a failure to act. However, it can only be considered purposefulA that

A program created by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has airlifted millions of gloves, masks and other coveted coronavirus supplies into the U.S. from overseas -- but it isn’t clear who’s getting them and at what price, or how much private-sector partners are earning through the arrangement. 

Kushner’s “Project Airbridge” provides transportation via FedEx Corp. and others for supplies that medical distributors, including McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc., buy from overseas manufacturers, mainly in China. Once a supplier’s goods arrive in the U.S., the companies must sell half the order in government-designated hotspots. They sell the rest as they see fit.

The U.S. government provides the air transportation for free, to speed the arrival of the products. The six distributors keep the profits, if any.

It's just a guess but McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., and others probably aren't acting out of a sense of virtue or noblesse oblige. They're in it for the profit. Meanwhile, the Administration benefits in numerous ways: a) throwing money at a company, which is likely to return the favor; b) allowing a company to distribute critically needed supplies, thus giving them a needed p.r. boost, especially as compared to "big government;" c) giving a competitive advantage to the non-union FedEx over the largely unionized UPS. 

It also allows the regime an opportunity to designate as they wish what Bloomberg refers to as "hotspots," which, conveniently, probably would include swing states. Moreover, if neither Jared nor either Donald is getting a kickback, it's a major upset.

Then there is privatization, the 40 year, 4 month effort of the Republican Party to whittle away the government so it can be drowned in the bathtub.   Moreover, the state governments are afforded the privilege of paying retail for products for which they should be paying wholesale, thereby putting them more at the mercy of the Trump Administration. 

Or maybe I'm over-thinking this and the Trump-Kushner message is "just die."

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